Inexplicably Fortuitous
by youngmoInactive
Summary: A Writing Practice. On a rainy night alone, Jay finds himself hosting a stranger for tea. Very much an AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A bit of scene practice became...a bit more than that XD There is more to come I promise.**

 **Before anyone asks, No, this is not Nya, this is an oc who has no name, and no real story for the most part. She's just here for the joy of it.**

 **In this work, I took a lot of inspiration from _The Monkey's Paw_ , the song _Omnia Sol,_ and the short story _The Hitchhiker_ , just so you know what my thought processes were here. :) Either way, I hope you enjoy Inexplicably Fortuitous, and my practice works. ^.^ People tend to enjoy things I'm not necessarily proud of. This was very self-indulgent.**

* * *

It was late that night when a visitor came from the thick rain storm, and knocked on the door of a small house in the middle of nowhere, pulling the drab grey hood further over their head, concealing themselves in vain, the rain having soaked them to the core. She had seen there was light on inside, and only wanted to be warm for a little while longer, shivering outside, cold winds driving the rain to her. She waited, hearing someone inside shuffling towards the door.

As she leaned against the brick wall, using it to avoid some of the downpours, she watched the door, listening to several locks being undone, before it opened, just enough for a young man with auburn hair to peer out, his blue eyes tired. "What do you want...?" He sounded as tired as his eyes looked, and the young woman straightened herself out, standing a little taller, shoulders back, as if someone had taped a ruler to her back as a child, to give her good posture habits, as if she was suspended by an unseen string.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late at night but I don't have a ride home, and this storm doesn't seem to be relenting..." She spoke softly, but with a certain urgency to her voice. "I was wondering if by chance you would allow me to stay for a while? At least until this storm relents?" He looked her over, seeing the water drip from her clothes, from her shaking fingers, before nodding, opening the door fully. "Thank you, Mister...?"

"Just...call me Jay," He said, letting her in, closing and locking the door behind her. "Usually, there are more people here, but not tonight... They had something they had to go to, and I wasn't feeling too good."

"I...I'm sorry." She had undone her dark coat, and was hanging it on the coat hooks by the wall, a few other jackets and coats hanging there as well, most of them empty. She pulled her hair out of the tight updo it was in, shaking it out, only a few strands soaked halfway down, as opposed to her whole head. "I understand how it is, being left alone..."

He gave her a sideways look and walked into the kitchen. "I've got some tea going if you'd like a cup." She followed behind him, smiling softly.

"I'd be most appreciative if you did..." He pulled out a chair for her, going to get two teacups, before bringing over the boiling kettle. "Tea does the soul a lot of good..." She watched him closely as he poured each of them a cup, the steam rolling up, hitting her in the face in a pleasant, warming way, and she spoke again as Jay took the kettle back over to the stove, to let it sit on a cool burner. "Pearl?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're drinking tea with a special kind of pearl essence in it, why?" She looked down at the tea, then back at his startled face. "It's not a bad thing, but I have to ask why... It's not exactly a happy person's tea..." She wrapped her hands around the cup, relishing in the warmth it gave her.

He shrugged, sitting across from her. "My Sensei said it would help me. I don't wanna be rude, but my plans were to just drink this and go to bed..." He took a sip, wincing a little at the taste, before adding a bit of sugar. "It's not super good on its own, but some sugar makes it better..." He looked up to see her taking a big sip, visibly brightening at the taste, as if radiating from within. "...Or are you a tea aficionado who is fine with bitter stuff?"

That got a giggle out of her as she set her teacup down gently on the table, hands staying wrapped around the cup, not letting go. "My father used to drink something like this when he felt overwhelmed...he would let me have some too. It was our special thing." She brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear, smiling down at the light colored tea. "We brewed ours to be stronger. Much stronger. It masks the taste the pearl gives."

He snorted again. "Good to know..."

"So why are you drinking the sad man's tea?" She asked again, taking another sip, the tea easing away the chill in her body. She relaxed in the chair, toes curled up beneath her chair, shoulders down. "You seem too young to know enough sorrow to need this..." Jay shrugged, looking at her from across the rim of his cup, sipping the hot drink down, just wanting it to be done with. "Surely you can share with me a story...Even in trade for one of mine?"

Jay shook his head as he finished his cup, the near-scalding liquid sitting heavily in his stomach. "I'm pooped. I'm gonna show you the guest room, hand you a change of clothes, show you where to put yours and then I'm turning in." The hints of a smile turned up the corners of his mouth, but it didn't linger for long before hiding again. "Again, not trying to be rude, but..."

"No no, I understand." She smiled, sipping at her tea again, savoring the memories. A small girl with a long black braid, sitting on her father's lap, stealing a sip from his tea cup, and she's giggling. Once again, she looked into Jay's eyes. "I thank you for your hospitality...even to a stranger." She set the cup down, running her fingers through her hair, giving him a soft smile.

He smiled, taking his cup to the sink. "Good to see someone appreciates me..." He walked out, going to the guest room, making sure there were blankets, turning the light on for her, before he padded across the hall on the balls of his feet. He hesitated for a few seconds, before opening Nya's door, slipping in to get a pair of pj's out of her drawer, plain black pants, and the big cheesy sweatshirt from Mega Monster Amusement Park. Carrying them back across the hall, he left them on the bed, going to see the strange woman again, going to look over the whole kitchen, making sure all burners were off, that the tea pot was emptied, that everything was ready so he could sleep. The tea's relaxing, tranquil effects were starting to take over, and he needed to go to sleep soon. Within the next fifteen minutes before he passed out where he stood. "The room with the light on, that's the guest room. I left some clothes you can change into..." He blinked once, twice, before noticing the cup on the table, still half full. Steam rose off of it in light curls. By the door, the shoes were gone, but on the hook, the dark jacket still hung, no longer dripping wet. Instead, it was dry as could be, and Jay could see the fine, small details on it. Small stitches embroidering a pattern in a somewhat shimmery shade, only a hair lighter than the jacket.

"What...?" He looked around for her, even looked out the windows into the rain, the guest nowhere to be seen. "...I must be dreaming." He mumbled tiredly, shuffling back to his room, dimming the light in the kitchen, just in case she returned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tbh this was ready like a week ago but I was lazy XD**

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In the morning, when the team was back and making a ruckus in the kitchen and woke up Jay in the process, he realized it hadn't been a dream. There were still pajamas sitting on the bed in the guest room, untouched, the lamp by the bed still on. As he began to shuffle by, he stepped in, and turned it off. No need to rack up a power bill they couldn't necessarily pay off.

When he got into the kitchen, with a clear view of the foyer of this home, he could see the coat rack, the black jacket still hanging, crisp and dry. Outside, the rain had stopped, and thin, weak sunlight filtered through the windows. He listened, and if he strained his ears, he could hear the rain in the gutters, the dripping of the leaves from the trees, and a soft wind.

His teammates sat at the table, Zane in the kitchen with Lloyd, helping whip up a large batch of pancakes for everyone. Lloyd was the one who noticed Jay, tapping a plate that was covered. "Thought you would've gotten up earlier...They're still pretty warm though." He gave Jay a smile, still dressed in his thick green pajamas, hair mussed. His robe was draped over his favorite seat, and then Jay noticed the weird slippers he was wearing. They were probably still kid sized, but they looked like they had a silly spider face on the top, and sure enough, on the sides were tiny legs dangling off. They were a tripping hazard for anyone around the kid. Jay smiled back though, scrubbing his eyes. The tea was pretty effective at killing his appetite for foods the next morning, but he didn't want to be rude, so he walked over, and carried his plate to the table, sitting down beside Cole, who was cutting his up absentmindedly, chatting with Kai and Nya about something unimportant. Probably about something from their mission last night.

"So Jay," Cole asked, turning when the blue-clad teammate sat down beside him, the chair squeaking across the floor. It was still damp under his chair, the girl had sat here, she had been there. "Why'd you leave a cup of tea on the table?"

"It's a long story..." He mumbled, yawning. "And you wouldn't believe me if I told you." He started preparing his pancakes, the thick, fluffy discs squishing slightly underneath his knife as he buttered them. They were still warm, just not as warm as they would be fresh out of the pan. "How did your mission go?"

"It went fine," Nya said, sipping her coffee. "We did what we had to do, and we would've been back sooner but...you know, rain and Cole..."

"We don't really mix."

"Got it." Jay said, taking a bite. "So what was the mission?" Everyone suddenly got more interested in the things in front of them. Lloyd stirred the pancake batter absentmindedly, Nya took an interest in the soggy, day-old newspaper on the table, and Kai checked his phone again, refreshing the screen, seeing if there were any new chirps out for him to share with his followers. "C'mon guys, you can tell me!"

Cole looked at him. "Just some thugs. No big deal. We didn't even all need to go, Kai and Nya coulda kicked their asses on their own." He smiled at Jay. "You didn't miss much."

"Good..."

* * *

Everyone else had other things to do, which led to Jay trying to return the jacket on his own. There was a name on a slip of paper in the pocket, with an address on it. He figured that there was just as good a place as any to start. Driving out of town, out into the middle of nowhere really, down a long winding road, he found a sign with the address. It branched off the main road, a bit covered by foliage, hidden deep in the woods. If this was where that girl lived, how had she gotten out into town and disappeared so fast? It looked like no car had been through here in years.

"Frigging kidding me..." Jay muttered, getting out of the car, carrying the jacket. "Wish someone-" He stopped himself, and shook his head. "I'd have liked it if someone else had come with me...instead, here I am, on my own again, taking something to someone..." Locking up his car behind him, Jay set off down the reclaimed road, avoiding loops of ivy, and missing chunks altogether.

It was much cooler here, hidden under these leaves as opposed to being in the sunlight, and Jay held the jacket close. At the end of this road, he could see what looked like a house sitting in a clearing. As a gentle wind rushed by him, he could swear he heard laughter in the trees around him, their branches shaking in the breeze, leaves rustling. Cracking a smile, he continued towards the house. There was a bike or two propped against the side, leaning, stuck in the mud from the rain the night before. Looking up at the house, he eyed the tall windows, with curtains still drawn in the middle of the day. He could have sworn that he saw a curtain shift a little bit, just the tinest amount, enough to reveal that someone truly was there.

He could hear noise inside, soft shuffling noises, and then a loud thud, as if whoever was inside had knocked something over. There was a muttered swear word, and Jay could hear someone fixing whatever it was that they had knocked over before the door was unlocked, an aged man opening it, his eyes tired. "Whadya want?" He was shorter now, hunched over, but Jay could tell that once upon a time, the man would have been someone not to be messed with. "Who're you?"

Jay blinked, holding the jacket losely. "...I found this jacket. I think the owner lives here?" The man took the jacket, looking over it, his fingers tracing over the fine embroidery, before muttering. "Do you know who it belongs to..?"

"Aye.." The man mumbled, before laughing loudly, leaning on the doorframe. "So good ol' Thessa's back in Ninjago..." He looked at Jay. "How'd you get ahold of her jacket, sonny?" He held it close, smiling at it as if it meant the world to him.

"She came and visited me last night, said she needed somewhere to stay while that storm was crazy..." Jay frowned. What did he mean _back_ in Ninjago? Had she been traveling? "I went to get the guest room set up so she could stay the night, but...she was gone when I came back out. Left her jacket... Found this address in the pocket."

He scratched at his chin, nodding a bit, before ushering him inside. "C'min. If she sent you here, there's a reason behind it."

"Sent me?"

"Aye, Thessa's a good lass...she's a helpful girl." He moved fast for someone as old as him, he even made Wu look young, which was seriously saying something. "She's a girl with a good set of morals...Always listens to that internal compass over what others say to do." The man stopped by the table, looking at a picture taken in a bar many, many years ago, back when his hair was just starting to grey, before continuing towards the kitchen. Out the window, Jay could see something blinding and bright, and it kept moving. The sea. He looked away, following the man.

"You know her then?"

"Know her? Sonny, I _worked_ with her!" The look on Jay's face said it all. "Ye clearly don't know much about her. Didn't she tell you her story?"

"No...I was tired, and she understood that, said something about maybe another time..." The man scoffed. "What?"

He gave Jay a bewildered look. "If she offered you her story and you turned it down, she might've taken that as a sign of rudeness...No wonder she left without her jacket."

Jay sighed. "I was taking my medicine at the time, I didn't have _time_ to listen to her story. I'd have passed out in the middle of it I'm sure!" He glanced at the photo on the table, of a group of people in a bar, smiling at the camera. Only, one of them wasn't fully smiling. Their mouth was turned up, but it didn't reach their those eyes were the only eyes in the photo that showed color. A light, hazy olive. I frowned. The rest of the photo was in black and white, except for the eyes of a girl, sitting in the middle, everyone giving her a smile. The same color as the girl's from last night-Thessa, he supposed her name was. "How old is this photo...?" It couldn't have been that old, maybe a matter of months, or a year or two tops? The girl looked practically the same. Except for her eyes. They had been happier last night, still old and tired, but happy, a deep inside kind of happiness. "And is that Thessa, right there?" He tapped the girl in the photo and the man smiled.

"That was when I saw her last, after everything that had gone down...she played her part well, ya know. Tricking her brother into saving her, only to betray him to help us." He sighed. "She felt awful after the fact, but...she also knew it was for the best, that if she hadn't, her brother's antics only would have spiraled out of control faster. That things would've gotten worse..."

"Now, how rude...Telling a lady's story without her present." They both turned, standing behind them in the living room was Thessa, dressed in what looked like a long dress, and as she stalked forward, it fanned out around her. She smiled at Jay, tucking a loose strand of hair back into her bun. "I figured you'd find what I had left for you.." Thessa grabbed an apple out of the basket, tossing it into the air before she caught it. "I just wasn't expecting you to arrive so soon..."

He blinked, staring at her, it had only been for a second but he could have sworn that at the hem of her skirt he saw-Jay shook his head. No, that would be silly, thinking that.

Thessa hopped up onto the counter, swinging her feet, kicking them out from under the long brown skirt. "My story is indeed a bit...convoluted, I suppose, but it's a tale worth telling. If you have the time of course, sad boy." She held herself high, and it was only now that Jay noticed how tall she was. Easily taller than him...

She was watching him as she took a dainty bite out of the red apple, her olive eyes observing his every movement, where he was looking, all of it. "So can you listen to a tale or not?" She grabbed her jacket, shrugging into it. "Can you even talk?"

"Of course I can." Jay snapped, leaning back to look at her. "And sure, I can spare some time to listen to your story..."

The girl was fast, whirling over to the table, her skirt kicking up as she spun across the floor, and she laughed as she nearly fell into the seat. As she fixed her hair, I noticed the way she held herself. "Well come on then, join me!" She adjusted her skirt, and it seemed to pool around her feet, draping over itself on the floor. "I'll tell you the story of how I came to Ninjago..."

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 **So what do you guys think of Thessa? Message me if you think you know what her story is, or what you think it is!**

 **As always, feedback is what I look forward to the most!**


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